The streets of New York City may be as quiet now as they have been in nearly a century’s time as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Still, the unprecedented hushed tones of Manhattan and its surrounding boroughs during the day has not repressed the communal spirit of its residents once the sun begins to set as every night at 7pm, residents salute the healthcare workers risking their lives on the front lines. “Some have played New York, New York, out of their windows,” says Copake, NY, resident and lifelong musician Scott Watson. “which made me think; what could I play that would bring my neighborhood (Washington Heights) together and show support to our healthcare workers?”
Watson has held a passion for all things guitar since his early childhood growing up in Columbia County NY. In the intervening years, the College of Saint Rose graduate has captivated audiences as a skilled electric guitarist throughout the Hudson Valley. How fitting it was then, when Scott stepped onto his Washington Heights balcony on a warm mid-April evening, guitar in hand, that he dazzle the city he now calls home in honor of New York’s healthcare and front line workers with an electric, Hendrix-style version of the National Anthem. “At a time of uncertainty, in the middle of a pandemic, it’s time to stop the team sport mentality with politics and just come together to support one another. I remember seeing an inscription on a large bell, which was on the boat of our great president JFK and it stuck with me ever since. “Where we go one, we go all…”
Check out Scott’s performance below